Benin ‘greenlights’ exports of Niger’s oil following China’s mediation

Benin and Niger finally appear to have resolved their trade dispute following the mediation by the Chinese government, which has led Benin to lift the blockade preventing Niger’s oil export through its territory to China.

Tensions between the two West African neighbors began last year after Niger’s ruling junta ousted the country’s democratically elected president Mohamed Bazoum. After Beninese President Patrice Talon loudly demanded Bazoum’s reinstatement and even advocated for a military intervention by ECOWAS troops, the junta’s leaders directed the closure of the country’s borders. Being a landlocked country, most of Niger’s imports went through Benin and the border closure thus affected Benin which earned a significant percentage of its revenue from the arrangement. Benin retaliated by blocking a newly Chinese-built oil pipeline leading from Niger to the port of Seme Kpodji, in southern Benin.

Now, following a mediation of the Chinese government and Chinese companies operating the newly inaugurated pipeline, Benin has finally given a green light for the export crude oil from Niger to China. Benin’s concession is widely welcome as a decisive step toward resolving a trade dispute between the neighbors that threatened to cause significant economic damage to both countries. “But Niger, it seems, needs Benin more than vice versa because oil exports can only go through Benin,” said Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel Regional Program at the Bonn-based Konrad Adenauer Foundation. “The pipeline was built that way. The oil pipeline, which was supposed to go into operation these days, runs through Beninese territory.”